Pass, run, block(chain) and tackle

While the price of bitcoin travels through every stage of a classic speculative bubble (by press time, it appeared to be moving from “euphoria” to “distress”), blockchains—the humble technological innovation underpinning the entire cryptocurrency mania—are quietly stretching their virtual tentacles deeper into our lives.

Now a Raleigh-based firm is helping bring blockchains to the unlikeliest of places—semi-pro football.

Smith Anderson reports that is representing the start-up Fan-Controlled Football League in launching an “initial coin offering,” a newly-popular type of fundraising so branded as to conjure up images of an IPO. The firm says the FCFL launched its pre-sale on Dec. 12, surpassing its $5 million goal. The fledgling footballers say they plan to sell their coins publicly in the first half of this year.

According to an online columnist for Forbes, owners of the FCFL’s coins will be able to pick which players to draft, choose the coaching staffs, and even call the teams’ offensive plays in real time. The plan is to have eight squads, who will all play their games in one purpose-built studio, and stream the contests online—making the venture sound less like football and more like a video game where the players are made out of real humans.

In case you missed the bitcoin bubble and have more money than you can stand, the ICO will be open to both accredited and unaccredited investors. Or you could apply to be a player—the league plans to conduct tryouts, which will themselves be live-streamed so coin owners can give aspirants the thumbs up or down, Roman Colosseum-style.

But the most promising way to make a packet off of blockchains is, of course, to be a lawyer who knows something about them. Smith Anderson said the ICO is being led by its presumably new Blockchain Technology practice.